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Rock Solid Warrior: Tech. Sgt. Jerry G. Meeks and Senior Amn. Anthony Love II

  • Published
  • 386th Expeditionary Contracting Squadron
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Rank/First & Last Name: Tech Sgt. Jerry G. Meeks

Deployed Unit: 386 ECONS

Duty Title: Contracting Officer

Home unit/station: 36 CONS/Anderson AFB, Guam

Family's military heritage: Two uncles, Navy and Army

What is your mission here? Support AMAB through purchasing supplies, services, and construction contracting.

What are some of the best parts of your mission?  Some of the best parts of my mission are interacting with and providing contract support to the customers at AMAB and contractors in Kuwait.

What are some of the challenges you face while conducting your mission, and how do you overcome them?  The major challenges I face involve prioritizing my workload and managing stress. The way I overcome them is to concentrate on the most important tasks and work them one at a time, take time for myself, talk with family, and go to the gym.

How does your job differ in a deployed environment vs. home base? My job differs in the deployed environment because at home station I mainly deal with construction contracting. Being deployed I award services and commodity contracts as well. The thresholds and rules are also slightly different when deployed.

How many times have you deployed?  This is my second deployment.

What makes this deployment unique?  The deployment is unique because I get a chance to leave the installation and I am supporting a base by myself. This is a different deployment for me. My last deployment I was part of a team that supported organizations in and around the base area.

Why did you join the Air Force?  I joined the Air Force to get a chance to travel and visit the world, learn new job skills, go to school, and serve my country. So far all of those expectations have been met.


Rank/First & Last Name: Senior Amn. Anthony Love II

Deployed Unit: 386th ECONS

Duty Title: Contracting Officer

Home unit/station: 42nd CONS, Maxwell AFB, AL

Family's military heritage: Both my Aunt and Uncle were in the Air Force. My Aunt decided to get out after eight years, and my Uncle retired as an E-7 Air Traffic Controller.

What is your mission here? Support both base and other allied operations within the AOR.

What are some of the best parts of your mission? Meeting and doing business with the locals and also seeing the different cultures that are around the area.

What are some of the challenges you face while conducting your mission, and how do you overcome them? The language barriers tend to be somewhat of a challenge. I try to look for cues/behaviors, or ask other people for translations.

How does your job differ in a deployed environment vs. home base? Deployed, everything is fast, quick, and in a hurry. Home station, everything takes at least a month to process.

How many times have you deployed? My first deployment was in January of 2009. I was sent to Iraq on Force Protection duty.

What makes this deployment unique? Having the capability to communicate more frequently with family back home.

Why did you join the Air Force? For bettering myself, being able to utilize the educational benefits, and most importantly, to defend our nations rights.